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Cape Town - Rebels fullback Dane Haylett-Petty has admitted his experience on the Wallabies end-of-year tour was full of learnings.
With the 29-year-old back in Victoria to take part in the Rebels' pre-season camp, Haylett-Petty reflected on his time with the national side which resulted in the Wallabies winning only one of their three tour games.
After playing every game while in Europe, Haylett-Petty believes the side has time to improve ahead of September's Rugby World Cup.
"It's always a learning experience," Haylett-Petty told the Rebels' official website.
"We had guys leaving with babies, guys getting injured the day before a game, guys getting into trouble and missing games and it does test your depth.
"The whole spring tour was definitely a challenge and showed where we are at right now, but we've got nine months until the World Cup and a week is a long time in footy, let alone 12 months, to work on what we need to work on."
With international duties now over, Haylett-Petty's focus has transferred to prepping himself for his second Super Rugby season in Melbourne.
The back has returned to the club after spending the past month recuperating following a gruelling playing schedule and he is now raring to launch into pre-season training.
Headlining the aspects of the new season which Haylett-Petty is most excited about is sharing the back half with new recruits Matt Toomua and Quade Cooper, while also listing fellow new recruit Campbell Magnay as an exciting young talent to watch.
"I think the Rebels have done a really good job recruiting this season," said Haylett-Petty.
"I've played with Quade (Cooper) before when we were younger, and I've played with Matty (Toomua) quite a bit too, so it's pretty exciting to have those guys play on the outside and play along with.
"Campbell (Magnay) is obviously a young gun and it's good to see him back in Australia after he's been in Japan playing. He's got a bright future ahead of him."
One thing which Haylett-Petty has noticed about the group since returning is the rise in intensity of pre-season training sessions.
Haylett-Petty says the level of competition among the playing list shows a strong amount of depth in the group, which will be pivotal throughout the season.
"The thing I've noticed is the hunger and the intensity, every single session has been intense," he added.
"There's so much competition between all the boys, you can see everyone has been working really hard and most of the guys are the fittest I've ever seen them.
"It's great to see so much competition and we've got so much depth in our squad and that's what you need to push into finals and to win competitions."
